Coming off of a tough week that saw it post a 1-4 record and fall behind Rhode Island and into second place in the Atlantic 10 East Division, the Massachusetts baseball team will look to a non-league remedy in the form of the University of Vermont to cure its ills.

The Catamounts (21-8 6-2 America East) will pose a tough challenge to coach Mike Stone’s club, however, as they will enter play as winners of 16 of their last 20 contests, which included a season-high 11 game winning streak.

They are led by junior first basemen Barry Chamberland, who has started all 29 games and leads the team in homeruns with eight, runs batted in with 25 and batting average at .378. Shortstop Bobby Tewksbary is also putting together a solid campaign at the plate for UVM. The sophomore is currently second on the team in average at .351, homeruns with two and RBI with 18.

For the Minutemen (15-15 9-6 Atlantic 10), designated hitter Chris Morgan continues to swing a hot bat. The senior has at least one hit in each of the last five games, going three for eight with a double during Umass’ two games in the Beanpot Baseball Classic, and four for 11 with two runs batted in and two walks during the three-game series at Temple.

For the season, he leads the team with a .360 batting average, four home runs and 12 doubles, while ranking second on the squad with 21 runs batted in.

Stone will also have to be careful with his young pitching staff, as today’s game is the first in a stretch that will see the Minutemen play eight games against five different teams in the next week.

After using junior Eric Chown and freshman Matt Torra against Temple, Stone will likely turn to the sophomore duo of Mike Crane, who is considered by many to be the staff’s ace, and Anthony Gallo, in the next few games to give the aforementioned trio time to rest before this weekend’s A-10 series with St. Bonaventure.

An area of concern that could be arising for Stone, however, is his closer. Sophomore southpaw Scott Ratliff, who began the season by posting a 1.69 earned run average with five saves and 17 strikeouts in 16 innings, has seen his fortunes go south of late. No. 17 surrendered four runs on four hits in a 1/3 of an inning of work in taking the loss in game one of the Beanpot, and followed that up by allowing two hits and a run in 2/3 of an inning of work in game two of the doubleheader with Temple on Sunday, with his ERA ballooning to 4.24.

This afternoon’s contest will take place on Earl Lorden Field, with first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.